Big guns back for Utd

Stoke v Manchester United

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson made seven changes to his starting XI for the Barclays Premier League trip to Stoke as Wayne Rooney celebrated his 25th birthday away from the Britannia Stadium.

Rooney, 25 today, has been ruled out for three weeks with an ankle injury sustained in training on Tuesday as the storm over his United future raged.

Ferguson restored Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, John O’Shea, Paul Scholes, Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez after the win over Bursaspor in midweek while Stoke’s only change saw Marc Wilson come in for the suspended Dean Whitehead.